Late Again
by Calypiso
Summary: Mike is late to work one day and Harvey is ticked off at him. Not slash, i don't do slash. Rated T for violence and language. Sorry I suck at summeries.
1. Chapter 1

Late Again

**A/N: this is not my first fan fic just my first on here, first suits one though, please R&R**

**p.s.: monica dont ruin any surprises please**

**_Disclaimer:I wish i owned suits_**

_**Summary: Mike Ross is good at hiding pain, always has been. No one at Pearson Hardman knows much about his past, Harvey's only scratched the surface. When Mike comes limping into the office 10 minutes late one morning, Harvey is sure that he's faking for sympathy, not that he got hit by a car.**_

Mike sat up and looked at his watch, 8:35, _crap_. He sat up, ran his hand through his hair and started to get ready for work, quickly. By the time he got out of the apartment it was 8:50, it was a 20 minute ride to work if he went normal speed, 15 if he raced. He was definitely going to be late. Harvey would have his ass this time, second time he was late this week and it was still only Thursday.

Mike took off on his bike as fast as he could, willing himself to go faster, to make it in time. A traffic light took nearly half a minute of his time and aggravated him farther. He took off as fast as he could, going nearly twice as fast as he normally would have. He would only be about 3 minutes late, he pushed harder, rounder a corner and flew from the bike.

If Mike Ross had been going just a fraction of speed slower he would have been able to stop in time. He hadn't seen the black Lincoln town car that collided with him and his bike squarely on the right side. Now the Mike Ross in question is...special. Not special education, rather he is a genius. No, he is smarter than a genius. He is eidetic, or photographic. Mike Ross remembers everything he has ever read, or even seen. A page of numbers that he glances at is imbedded in his memory forever. That is what make's Mike Ross so smart. This is what makes him the perfect lawyer, the perfect associate for Harvey Spector. The sensation of flying didn't stop his brain from picking up everything he saw as he was tossed into the air.

The sensation turned from that of flying to one of questioning and ultimately, fear. _Why am I still in the air? What is Harvey going to say when I come in late and looking like crap? Why the hell did I have to crash today? Why haven't I hit the sidewalk yet?_And then he did. Instead of a sidewalk though, he hit the rougher pavement of the street. The street. He had to move or he'd get run over. Blinking stars out of his eyes Mike felt pain rush through him in waves._ Shit, now I have to sit through court in pain._ He let out a groan and tried to focus, he was hearing sounds in a tunnel effect, not uncommon for him though. Reaching for his bag he found that he couldn't move his right arm without searing pain flooding through his shoulder to his elbow. He tried to stand and was offered a hand by, presumably, a passer by had seen him crash and decided to help. The man handed him his messenger bag and started talking, although Mike couldn't hear him properly he knew what the man was saying, 10+ years of earphones on 24/7 had made him the perfect lip reader.

"oh, my god! I'm so sorry I didn't see you come around the corner. Do you want me to call an ambulance." _So I didn't crash I got hit by a car, that would explain the pain._ "can you hear me? Did you hit your head?" The man was tall, almost Mike's height, he had dark brown eyes and was nearly bald.

" I'm fine, sorry about that." Mike shuck his head back and forth, successfully clearing it.

" you sure kid? I just hit you with a car, you know that right?" The man eyed him skeptically. " you don't look so good" He added when Mike winced trying to walk out of the street. A searing pain exploded in his leg as he tried to step. He tested the limping method, wasn't as bad.

" yeah I'm sure, I gotta get to work...uh thanks for making sure I was alive I guess." Mike tried not to wince as he walked the remains of his bike to the rack on the sidewalk, he didn't even bother locking it, it wasn't worth stealing anymore. The front tire was bent almost completely in half and the frame had a huge dent in it. Not to mention the back tire was flat, and the chain snapped in two.

Mike tried to hide the limp and the way he was holding his right arm to avoid moving it. He timed his breathing in time with the waves of pain that were radiating from his leg and shoulder, trying to reduce the nausea that hit along with the waves. Getting into the elevator he let out a groan when he saw that one of the more annoying of his fellow associates was on his way up also.

"You crash your bike" The guy was actually surprised to see Mike in bad shape, he knew the kid wasn't you run of the mill associate, but he thought he knew him to be smart enough to avoid Harvey when he was already in the dump.

"Something like that, and I'm already gonna be under the bus when I get to Harvey's office, I don't need you rubbing it in" Mike talked with a snipe in his voice and an irritated tone. The fellow associate noticed how Mike was swaying in time with how he breathed, he looked about ready to pass out.

" Are you okay? You look like your about to fall over." He eyed him suspiciously as the elevator doors opened and Mike took off, well as fast as he could with the pain he was in. "kids hurt bad" The fellow associate muttered as he pressed the button on the panel for the File Room.

Mike Ross tried to not limp, he tried to hold his arm at his side, not tight to his stomach, he tried but failed miserably. He was at Donna's desk, she ignored him but he caught a reflection of her calling someone, most likely Harvey, as he walked past.

Donna wasn't one to not notice. She had a way of making everyone tell her everything, she knew secrets that even Luis didn't know about the firm. She was Harvey's secretary, and she was good at what she did. Really good. As good as Mike was at remembering things she was at getting people to forget them. She picked up the line into Harvey's office.

"Mike just got here. Go easy on the poor kid, he's hurt and he doesn't want people to know it. He's good at hiding it, but I see right through it." She spoke quietly about Mike being hurt, the way he was obviously trying to hide it was reason enough, let alone that if the information met the ears of Luis it would be every associates gossip for the rest of the week.

"i don't care if he's hurt. He's late and we have court today." Harvey Spector was mad, at his associate who couldn't seem to remember to set his alarm, and at his secretary for sympathizing with him. Come to think of it, Harvey was sure Mike wasn't even that 'hurt' at all, but trying to get out of the lecture about appearance and being late again.

"you have 5 seconds until he walks in" Donna waited for a reply but only heard a muttered curse from Harvey as she hung up.

**The Office**

Harvey sat at his desk, toying with a pen. He wasn't a patient man, but he could act it. He had been being patient for the last 10 minutes, since 9:00 when his associate was supposed to be there, with the briefs on his desk.

"You have 5 seconds until he walks in" Harvey didn't reply, instead he looked up when he heard the door open, the pissed off look on his face just got worse. He cussed under his breath and Donna hung up.

"What the hell?" Mike was a mess, his pants were wrinkled and he had either a very nasty bruise or an ink stain on his face. But he held in his left hand the briefs, filed in Mike fashion, the most important on the top the last resort on the bottom in its own folder.

"Don't ask. Here's your briefs." Mike started towards Harvey's desk ignoring the pain in his leg and only limping slightly. Harvey looked pissed, very pissed.

"No, I will ask and you will answer. Now give me the file and sit down before you pass out." Mike was relieved that Harvey was allowing him to sit, he needed to take the pressure off his leg, and hopefully not moving would help the throbbing of his shoulder.

"I'm not going to pass out. And if you must know I crashed my bike on the way here, okay." Not a complete lie, just not the whole story.

"Are you sure you didn't get high last night and fall down the stairs?" Harvey was playing on Mike's tendencies, especially the pot smoking one. But then again if it hadn't been for his dealer friend, Trevor, Mike never would have hid in the interview and shown Harvey what he really was. Harvey Spector had gotten a genius associate because of a briefcase full of marijuana.

"I haven't smoked since that thing with Luis' client. And you've seen me high I don't ' fall down stairs'. Also if you need evidence I think you can see my bike from the window, its the bent one outside the coffee shop across the street." Harvey actually contemplated looking out the window before he realized the tone of Mike's voice. The kid wasn't lying or joking, his voice was serious, not a common thing for Mike.

" Really? And True, your balance is actually better when your breaking the law."Mike smiled a little at that, turning his head to his bag as a wave of nausea and pain flooded him, he pretended to look for his phone, he just hoped that Harvey wouldn't catch on that he should know exactly where it was. Or the fact that he was trying to make in non-obvious that he was only using his left arm to 'search'.

"Donna warned you didn't she? Told you not to give me too hard a time for being 10 minutes late." Mike said once the nausea had passed.

"She might have. Now go and get cleaned up, we have court in a half hour." Harvey looked the younger man over. He saw how no matter how hard he tried he couldn't not limp, and the way he opened the door was off. Something about the way his hand moved was wrong. And then Harvey got it, not as off as he thought, maybe he'd just never realized the kid was left-handed, but something in the back of his mind told him otherwise.

**Court**

Mike sat in the uncomfortable chair in the court room. He was second chair, handling the paperwork and giving Harvey the right files. His head was spinning, his shoulder was pounding and his leg was throbbing in waves.

"you know I have every right to fire you for being an idiot, but I just can't bring myself to have to do the paperwork." Harvey said to Mike as he stood to leave the court room, Mike hadn't even realized the case was over, that they'd won.

" Donna would kill you if you fired me, and you would get so far behind without me you wouldn't know what to do." Mike tried to stand but his leg wouldn't support his weight and he fell back into the chair, a sense of vertigo washing over him as he did so.

"Because I'm in a good mood right now I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Get your ass out of that chair, we need to get back to the office, you have paperwork to do." Harvey looked back at the younger man, " now you look like you are going to pass out." Mike had his eyes closed tightly and was fighting off waves of pain and nausea, he opened his eyes and Harvey saw the pain he was in, it wasn't normal for the kid to be this out of it.

" I'm fine. Just give me a minute, stood up to fast." his voice was pained. He stood and slowly walked from behind the table, swallowing the pain that every step caused. The walking also caused his arm to begin to throb again,adding to the problem.

" When we get back, show me your bike. I want to see if you were telling the truth this morning." Harvey eyed his associate skeptically and turned to walk out the court room, Mike close behind him. "your going to need to file these under Polsner not Credich because Credich was deamed unresponsible, and Polsner agreed to it being under him."

"why don't I put them under irresponsible and label it Credich?" Mike wasn't trying to hid the limp any more, it hurt to bad and Harvey had seen him almost fall standing earlier, there was no use to hiding it from him anymore.

" Because there's two copies of the files. The ones you went over and made the brief from and the copy I had this whole time with my side notes."

" you want your copy under Polsner and mine under Credich, because you showed Polsner yours but not mine and he wouldn't recognize mine as the same case." Mike saw a man out of the corner of his eye, a bay-lift that was familiar. It was the man with the black Lincoln town car, he just hoped the man didn't see him. But of course he did.

"Hey kid, how's that leg of yours? You get to work on time" The man yelled out and walked quickly over. Harvey gave him a look that clearly said 'what the hell'.

" Care to introduce me to your friend Mike. He seems to know more about what happened this morning than I do." Harvey was looking pissed again, and Mike let out a sigh, _well this sucks, _he thought.

"Hello again, this is my boss Harvey. Now I really need to get back to work, I have a lot of papers to file." Mike tried to walk away, but of course not, the man started talking again.

" You know I feel really bad about what happened, if you got in trouble with your boss I could apologize to him." Mike hit his left palm to his forehead as Harvey gave him the death stare.

" Really it's fine, he wasn't too mad, and no harm no foul, I'm fine." The man didn't look convinced as he eyed the wide purple and black bruise across Mike's jaw line and cheek. " I've got work to do, I really need to go."

" Funny, you've never used the excuse of paperwork to avoid a conversation before, I think you should tell me what really happened this morning. All of it."

Mike let out a sigh again, and then an unexpected explosion of pain rocketed through his shoulder, coursing to his finger tips and making him double over in pain. He could feel two pieces of bone rubbing together, he knew his collarbone was broken, and badly. He let out a gasp, and reached for his right arm, holding his elbow, trying to support his shoulder with his left hand. He'd let the perfect cover go away, he couldn't just say it was a muscle spasm and expect Harvey to except the excuse.

" Mike, are you okay?" Harvey bent down to look his associate in the eye, noticing how the man was breathing in short rapid breaths.

" will be" Harvey guided the younger man to a bench at the side of the hall. Looking him in the eyes and seeing pain and...embarrassment.

"What the hell happened to my associate?" He asked the bay-lift, standing his full height, a good 4 inches over the other man.

"He didn't tell you?" the man looked utterly bewildered at the concept.

" He told me he crashed his bike, you however seem to know more than he's letting on too, and seeing as he just nearly collapsed in pain because you laid your hand on his shoulder, I think an explanation is warranted." Harvey looked back to Mike who was sitting bent over on the bench clutching his right arm.

" He didn't just crash, I ran into him. Didn't see him round the corner and ran smack into him with my car, he told me he was fine, and that he needed to get to work. He was more concerned with getting to the office than with the fact that I'd just sent him flying over the hood of my car." The man's eyes were wide, Harvey looked over to Mike on the hall bench.

" Is that true?" Mike just nodded keeping his head down and trying to catch his breath. Waves of pain were flooding through his arm, worse than before, much worse.

" What's wrong with your arm?" He looked to be in extreme pain. Mike could feel that the two pieces of bone had shifted when the man laid his hand on his shoulder, they where no longer aligned and breathing was painful as it moved the two pieces.

"Collarbone. It's broken." Even his voice was strained. He looked up to see Harvey curse under his breath. The pain was making his hearing go out again, so he resorted to reading lips and expressions.

" I hope you know I'm going to advise him to sue,and ill represent him." Harvey took a card from the inside breast pocket of his suit and flicked it at the man. "Google me."

" He said he was fine, and limped off." The man looked desperate. "please don't sue me, I swear I asked if he needed an ambulance and he said he was fine." The man looked toward Mike who had an odd expression on his face that Harvey had never seen before, it looked as it he was trying to remember something. Perfectly normal for a normal person, not someone with Mike's memory.

"You told him you were fine, and he believed you? What are you trying to remember, is your head messed up too?" Harvey would have been worried about the associate, that is if he cared, he just really hated interviews and knew he wouldn't find another Mike in the Harvard soup.

" I was already running late, and I knew you'd be pissed. I looked like a mess and today was a court day, I couldn't be any later than I already was, so I came around the corner right out front too fast and didn't see him. As for what I'm trying to remember it's the guys license plate. You ever realize how many you see a day? Imagine every single license plate you've ever seen in our head. I'm was trying to remember the right one, the numbers 8b90yhk, black Lincoln town car." Mike took as deep a breath as he dared to without risking moving the bones in his shoulder anymore.

" No I get pissed at you when your late to work because your hungover, or you forget to set your alarm. I don't see how _you_ could forget to set an alarm clock, or how you always lose your phone, well not lose but forget because you always know where it is." Harvey looked his downed associate in the eye, " I don't get pissed at you when your late because you got hit by a freaking car and your arm's broken. I would have not had the brief but oh well, I would have used my copy of the file, gotten another associate to tag along. I would have been pissed when you came back the next day, but only if you didn't call, or email Donna." He looked back at the bay-lift, "i will be contacting you soon."

"Harvey, you really do care, don't you?" Mike looked at his boss and let a small smile creep to his lips.

" I don't care. I truly don't, I just hate interviews. And there isn't going to be another you in the Harvard soup." Harvey pulled out his cell phone and dialed Ray's number, no matter what the kid said he was going to the hospital.

" Because I'm not Harvard soup." Mike slowly tried to stand, finding his balance was off and letting go of his right arm to catch the wall.

_**End of chapter one **_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I meant to update sooner I really did. But im in high school, and I do taekwondo 6-7 days a week. I know not a great excuse but still, its true, I swear. Big thanks to neko-meme(monica), for being the first one to tell me it was good and to post it on here. Also a big thanks to everyone who reviewed the 1st chapter, you make me sooooooo happy. Thanks to, iheartlife, hollowgirl15,Lo, and Stroma.

**The Aftermath**

Mike Ross sat on the edge of the hospital bed, his right knee slightly bent to help alleviate some of the pain and his right shoulder supported by a sling that was irritatingly too short for him. Harvey had dropped him off and made sure he accualy went to the E.R. about and hour ago. A doctor had come and checked him out saying that his collarbone was broken in 2 places and he needed surgery, it was scheduled for later that day. His knee had a deep bone bruise and he would be limping for a while. Harvey was expecting a call, and Mike was dreading it. He reluctantly picked up the phone and dialed Harvey's cell number.

" Spector." Harvey sounded irritated and at least a little pissed at being disrupted during work. 

"Uh...Harvey its Mike." He paused to plan what to say next.

"Whats the verdict puppy?" Harvey needed his associate back, and soon. The one he had saved from Luis didn't even really deserve saving, he was a piece of crap, only half way through the stack of papers that Mike would have finished an hour ago.

Mike sighed, " I need work off till Monday, there doing surgery later today. My shoulder's busted in two places, oh and I have a massive and extremely painful bruise on my knee." Mike cringed his eyes in anticipation of Harvey being mad.

"I'll let Jessica know, and tell Donna to bring you a case file. I stole that retard, Gregory, from Luis, he's a complete idiot."

"Sorry, ill make sure he knows that he's not up to snuff when I get back on Tuesday. And before you tell me not to ride my bike, I don't think I'll be able to for a while. Tell Donna thanks please." Mike listened to the static on the end of the phone as Harvey yelled at Gregory for spilling something on some papers.

"This idiot is going to be the death of me, see you on Tuesday puppy." Harvey replied, annoyed, and hung up.

_I am going to be so far behind when I get back, I hope Donna brings something good, like that last case, for me to do. I really hope Gregory ends up getting Harvey so mad that he kills the dumb-ass._

Mike Ross leaded back and swung his legs up to the bed as the nurse came in to bring him down to the surgery prep area.

**Jessica's office**

Harvey Spector is a very uncaring man, unless it involves his work. He's a lawyer, and a senior partner at one of New York's biggest law firms, and he loves his job. _The puppy had to go and get hit by a car, didn't he. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, the damn bike of his._ He didn't accualy care that Mike was hurt, only that the associate he had while Mike was out of work was a complete and udder idiot, not to mention that he kept talking. At least Mike knew better and shut up. Gregory was slow and took ungodly amounts of time to do the simplest things. Harvey didn't realize it at the time, but Mike was the best associate in the firm, definitely the smartest, not to mention that he could keep up with Harvey and his god awful demands. Harvey had forgotten what it was like to work with someone who couldn't remember every detail from a case on a dime, Mike's memory had spoiled Harvey, not that he knew it.

"Jessica, can I come in?" Jessica Pearson was sitting at her desk on her computer, when Harvey walked up to the door and called in she turned to face him and smiled.

"Of course Harvey, What can I do for you?" She stood and moved over to the couch, motioning for Harvey to do the same.

"The puppy needs the weekend off, he got himself hit by a car." Harvey saw Jessica's smile fell and heard her sharp intake of breath.

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's going to be fine, broke his collarbone but that's it." He saw Jessica relax.

"Tell him that that's fine, and to feel better soon."

"Of course, thanks Jessica." Harvey stood and went to leave Jessica's office but remembered something, "Did you have any clue how slow some of the associates are, I think Luis is slaking in that department." Jessica laughed and smiled at Harvey

"Luis is doing fine with the associates, Mike is just faster than the rest and you've been spoiled."

"My puppy is spoiling me?" Harvey laughed, " Gregory took almost an hour to re-file the briefs from my case this morning, I think the last time I checked it only took Mike about 15 minutes."

"Most associates accualy have to look back at the papers to file something, that takes time Harvey, but I agree with you that Gregory is slow at filing." Jessica stood and went back to her desk, " I'll see you later Harvey."

"Same to you Jessica." Harvey left the office and though about what Jessica had said, that his puppy was spoiling him. He just hoped that the next associate he had to break in wouldn't be half as slow as Gregory, who was at the moment playing tic-tact-toe in the margin of the file with himself. Harvey didn't know it possible to play against yourself in that game until that moment.

**Tuesday**

Mike Ross was up, showered and ready to get to work by the time he normally woke up. He had decided that he had to take a cab, even though it would take nearly twice as long as just walking, but his leg really was hurting. At 8:00am he took one final look in the mirror and walked, well limped, out of his apartment building and onto the streets of New York. It took him about 5 minutes to find a cab and be on his way. Mike's right arm was in a sling, he wasn't supposed to take it out of it for another 5 weeks, and after that he couldn't even really use his arm for another 3 weeks. His jawline was bruised, the nasty yellow-brown color with tints of purple that only came from a few day old bruise. And his right knee was slightly swollen, and the deep bruising made it difficult to bend it more than slightly without causing himself more pain. Mike had decided against taking the prescribed pain meds this morning, they caused him to be tired and not all the way functioning, but he tossed a bottle of aspirin into his messenger bag. The bag was across his chest from the left to right because of his shoulder, this annoyed him when he reached for his wallet, it was nearly impossible to reach his back pocket because of the strap from the bag and he was forced to move his wallet into his front pocket.

Mike stepped out of the cab in front of Pearson Hardman at 8:35am, he was accualy early for once. Getting into the elevator he noticed the same annoying associate who had seen him on Friday, his fellow co-worker waved at him as he stepped into the elevator.

" On Friday you looked like you were about to pass out, then you disappear for a few days, come back and your arm's in a sling and your face is all bruised. What happened?" He looked genuinely intrigued.

" You know how on Friday you asked if I crashed my bike? Yeah well I wasn't lying when I said I did, but I didn't exactly tell you the truth. I got hit by a car." The fellow associate looked shocked.

" You know, people die from that right?" The guy smiled at Mike as the elevator dinged and he got off at the file room floor.

" Yeah, I do know that." Mike muttered under his breath as he waited for the elevator to reach the floor with Harvey's office.

**Harvey's office**

Harvey Spector was in a good mood on Tuesday morning, he had finalized the case proceedings for the court case on Friday and he had had a really good cup of Italian roast coffee that morning. Also it didn't hurt that he got Mike back today to finally finish up the slacker job that Gregory had done. Sad part was that Greg was one the better associates compared to some. The stack of papers on the table in his office were out of order and doodled on, but at least they were there. In Harvey's opinion working for him was better than working for Luis, but Greg had other thoughts apparently, because as soon as Harvey had told him that Mike was coming back today he had left the office as fast as possible to get back to tell Luis that he was free from the all-feared Spector talks of doom. Harvey absentmindedly twirled a pen between his fingers as he looked over the files that Gregory had tried, terribly, to work some sense out of, to find a loophole. Harvey looked up when he heard a knock at his door, and was pleasantly surprised to see an associate other that Gregory holding papers to give him.

Mike knocked on Harvey's door, he had talked Donna out of calling Harvey to tell him he was there. Harvey looked up from some file on his desk and smiled slightly.

" Has the world stopped spinning or are you accualy on time for once?"Harvey closed the folder and pushed it to the side as Mike walked in and handed him the file he was carrying.

"I'm accualy on time, and here's the file that Donna dropped off for me to do." Mike smiled and reached to adjust the sling, this one fit slightly better but it was still to short. The movement pulled at the stitches and made him wince slightly.

" You look like a mess, and your suits wrinkled." Mike rolled his eyes, of course Harvey would bring that up.

" It's not exactly easy to change without moving your dominate arm at all. Or iron for that matter, I did the best I could."

Harvey thought that Mike really did look like a mess. His arm was clearly annoying him and he kept adjusting the sling, wincing as he did so, his face looked like he's been on the receiving end of a sucker punch to the jaw and he stood awkwardly, keeping his weight on his left lag. Harvey really could have cared less though today, Mike was clearly the best associate in the firm at the moment and Harvey had him back. To Harvey it was like giving him back his favorite pen, he had lost it for 3 days but then it was returned.

"I'm not going to lye to your face about that, I know it is hard to change with only your left arm. Just sit down and finish what Gregory half did.

Harvey just smiled as Mike sat down on the couch and began to re stack the papers in order, glancing at each one in turn, making his own mental copy of the files.

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, so that took forever to come up with. The first two chapters came pretty close together but this one took a really long time. Ehh... writers block sucks.

Once again thanks to all how have read, reviewed, alerted or favorites this story, ill try to update sooner next time.

A/N: _**Okay so this was originaly like, 8 pages long but my computer crashed, and I got terrible writers block, and a whole bunch of other unfortunate writing mishaps, so now it is, sadley, only 3 pages long, I really wish I had the other version of it for you guys.**_

_**Wow, I used like 7 commas in that sentence, and so far 2 in this one, (make that 3) commas are very usefull little characters are they not?, I seem to think so.( and now 4.)**_

By noon Mike had finished more than Gregory would have all day. The papers for the Pollster-Credich case were finished and filed, the doodles erased and Harvey was fairly happy to have his associate back.

Mike was in pain, even just sitting in Harvey's office reading files for other cases. His shoulder was throbbing and trying to adjust the sling sent shooting pains through his arm. Harvey had seen him winch once or twice, and was ignoring how he kept running his fingers through his hair and screwing with the sling.

Harvey looked over at Mike and raised an eyebrow at his expression. The kid had a look of annoyance and frustration on his face. "Didn't they give you any pain meds?"

"Yeah, but they make my brain all fuzzy." Mike set the file he was reading down and reached into his bag to grab the aspirin and some water. "I'm fine, really." Harvey wasn't fooled, the kid wasn't a good liar, good at hiding things like pain, but not good at lying about them.

"You're lying. Go eat some lunch." Harvey stood and took the file Mike had been looking at, glancing at the notes in the margins he was glade to see that they were messy, yet legible. Mike was defiantly right-handed, but his left wasn't horrible.

**Break Room**

Mike walked into the associates break room and bought a sandwich from the vending machine and sat down at one of the deserted tables as Rachel walked in. She noted Mike's arm and the bruise on his face.

"Trevor's back?" She asked while leaning on the counter and microwaving a bowl of pasta.

"No, and I doubt that unless he had a baseball he could have done this much damage." Mike gave Rachel a smile.

"So what happened then, there are rumors abound." The microwave beeped and Rachel removed the plastic container and sat down next to Mike.

" I was running late and not paying attention to where I was going." Better to just tell her the truth Mike thought, " I got ran into by a car."

" I was hopping for something less mundane, like Luis had cornered you on the way home and you had to fight your way out of his rat-home, the sewers." Rachel laughed and began to eat her lunch, her smiling making Mike smile back.

" Nope, just an accident,that's all. And I do believe Luis has a home, has to keep up appearances for Jessica."

" Very true."

The two quietly conversed until they both reluctantly returned to there jobs, and the piles of paperwork awaiting them.

**DONNA'S DESK**

Donna looked out from behind her cubical wall to see Luis Lit leaning against the wall down the hallway. He was talking to Gregory, the associate that Harvey had stolen when Mike was away from the office. Luis was trying to be cunning, and to Donna's astonishment, the associate was falling for it. She had no clue what they were talking about, decided it was useless and went back to her work.


	4. Chapter 4

edited version, sorry about that guys. and the super long wait, i went back and re-uploaded this. neko-meme, you have permission to moment in the slapping of my face over this.

LATE AGAIN CH.4

Mike stood facing the file room and its many shelves. He could sense the coming dread. Mike opened the file in his hand, it was old, from back in 2003. He was referencing it for a case he was revisiting for Harvey. Normally, replacing a file he hadn't in, the first place ,grabbed wouldn't pose an issue. It would have gone smoothly and quickly, but problem was he had glanced at the file number earlier. It was a high number, and with the older date, it showed it was in the last file room. The top shelf it was sectioned to be on also posed an issue, the most threatening issue of it. Any other time this would not have passed his mind for more than a second.

Unknown to Mike was that Luis and Gregory had changed the file number before giving the file to Harvey, and thus to Mike, as they knew he would. They wanted Mike to file something wrong and end up having Harvey getting mad at him, in the best case, they got Ross fired. Luis just thought of Mike as an annoyance, Harvey's golden boy. But he couldn't excuse the fact that Mike Ross was a genius, and a good associate. Gregory saw him as competition, as a problem. He wanted him fired, and if that meant hurting him more than so be it. The car vs. bike accident was pure luck, it slowed Mike down, made him vulnerable. Gregory had set his trap in the file room they had switched the number to. He had removed the step ladder and all stable chairs, replacing them with one office chair. He had taken the stability bolt on the chair out and now when someone stood on it, it was bound to break and send them to the floor. The office chair was old and didn't spin. Gregory had also taken the file box and filled it with random bits of office junk, staplers, binders full of blank paper, anything to make it heavy enough to throw Mike off balance. He was waiting behind a corner when his prey walked into the last file room, he had too witness this. As soon as the door was closed Gregory walked quickly away.

Mike set the file down on the table and nudged the door shut, he looked at the first shelve on his right, the box was in the corner, on the top shelf,just as he had predicted. He glanced around for the step ladder, and instead found an old chair. _Great, just what I need._ He sighed inwardly, a chair for a ladder, a top shelf box, his shoulder throbbing dully, a reminder to take more pain meds when he got back to his desk. As he stepped on the chair he felt it wobble, cursing under his breath. He reached for the box with his left hand, holding his right as close to his stomach as the sling would allow. He slipped his fingers into the box and pulled, just as the chair gave way.

Mike Ross was jerked back , taking the file box with him. As he fell one thought crossed his mind, _This is going to hurt._ He tried to turn his left side toward the ground, to not take the impact with his broken side. The boxes contents flew out as he toppled backwards and Mike tensed in anticipation. The floor. Pain. Worse than when the man had slapped him on the back, so much worse. He cried out in pain and black spots filled his vision. His right side was on fire, Mike clutched his eyes shut, overcome with pain and nausea. He tried to role to his left side but found that it increased the pain, dramatically. He very slowly got into a sitting position, gasping in pain with every movement. He felt the hot stickiness of blood trickling slowly down his arm, the impact with the ground must have ripped at least 1 or 2 of his stitches out.

Just as Mike was wondering how he was going to get back to his desk, the door was opened. Rachel stood stock still in the doorway, eyes wide.

"Oh my god! Mike, what happened?" She rushed over to Mikes side

"Stupid. Chair. Broke." Every breath hurt, even the slight movement sent shooting pain through him. "Dammit, that hurts." Mike cursed under his breath.

"What do you want me to do? Oh, God your bleeding." She noticed the trail of blood running down his arm.

" Help me back to my desk, please." He gave Rachel a look that clearly said he was in more pain than he was letting on. His eyes were barley open and his teeth were clenched.

"Your going back to the hospital, even if I have to get Donna to drag you. By the bad arm."

Mike gave her another look, " I'm not going back, there's no need too anyway. I do hope I can get Harvey to give me the rest of the day off though. I don't care how fuzzy brain gets, I'm taking the freaking meds."

" Fine that means getting Donna to drag you there. I'll help you to Harvey's office, its closer than your desk anyway."

"Didn't think I could make it back to my desk by myself anyway. Hell even with help, I doubt it would have gone easily. Not mentioning Kyle and Gregory's comments." Mike took as deep a breath as he dared, " May as well get this over with, help me up?"

Rachel grabbed Mike's good arm and helped into a standing position, he clenched his eyes shut and grunted in pain. Leaning against the wall he breathed shallow, pained breaths. Rachel kicked a stapler that had flown from the box out of the way, and opened the door. Mike and Rachel made the slow trip to the elevator and on to Harvey's office, luckily Jessica Pearson was out of her office, and they only ran into a janitor. Donna heard them about 10 seconds before she saw them, Rachel with her arm under Mike's and Mike with a clearly pained look on his face and a blood strain forming on his shirt sleeve.

"What happened now?" Donna was the queen of poker faces, she said this calmly and coolly, when her mind was really racing at thousand miles a minute.

"Putting that stupid file away." he was breathing fast and shallow, trying not to move his upper body at all, since it caused flashes of pain to radiate from his shoulder.

"Harvey's in there, I recommend doing what he says, seeing as he's already pissed off and this isn't going to help anything." Donna stood up from her desk and led Mike and Donna into Harvey's office.

Harvey Spector was sitting at his desk, reading something that resembled a brief. He heard Donna, Mike and Rachel enter the room and looked up.

"What the hell?" Harvey looked incredulous, his eyebrow raised his pen dangling from his fingers as he took in the way Rachel was all but the only thing keeping his associate standing.

"Frigging chair broke. I fell. Hurts. Like a mother." Harvey stood and walked over to the front side of his desk."

"Sit down before you fall over, just don't get blood on the couch." Harvey leaned against the desk and pulled out his phone, Mike looked up and hoped that Harvey wasn't calling Ray, his driver.

"Who are you calling.?" He knew. Mike slowly sat down, grimacing as he did so, and reached for his messenger bag where he had left it before the disastrous file room problem. He carefully flipped it over and ignored Donna and Rachel's looks as he dug the hidden prescription bottle out, he had tossed it in just in case the aspirin didn't do it.

"Your smart, you know who. And don't take those, I've seen you popping pills all day. Your going to give yourself ulcers. Now all I want to know is why accidents seem to find you." Mike dropped the pill bottle back onto the floor and groaned.

"But it hurts, like really bad. Worse than when that guy slapped me on the back."

"Ray will be here in 5 minutes. You will go to the hospital, Rachel will go with you to make sure you actually go in and get fixed. You will let them fix your stitches, and you will not return until they tell you that you can. Yes I do know that you weren't supposed to return to work for a week, so don't give me that look ."

"I'm fine, and I really need to finish a whole pile of crap for Luis." Mike knew it was a vain attempt, but he had to at least try to get out of this.

"Ross, you can barely stand, your wincing every time you breath and you ripped at least two of you stitches out. Your going to the hospital, Ray is taking you, Rachel is going to make sure you stay there. End of discussion." Harvey's tone mad it final.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, so no excuse for it taking this long but im finally working on it again. I had some personal issues and my best friend is going through a rough patch, and well if you need more feel free to pm me.

BTW, I am aware that I switch to 1st person narration here, as the rest of the story so far has been in 3rd person. I find 1st person easier to write for whumpage scenes.

Massive thanks to monica(neko-meme) who I hope sees this so I don't get murdered when school comes back in session.

"Good or bad news first Mr. Ross?" The doctor looked at me in an odd way, like I was a kicked puppy or something. Harvey would laugh at that, the doctor going along with his puppy references. Wow, meds made me loopy.

"Bad, so the good can cheer me up again." My shoulder didn't hurt right now, so I couldn't be too bad. And when had a doctor ever given bad news with a side of good, it was always good news with a side of bad. Like, you needed 17 stitches, but at least you don't have a concussion! That just didn't work.

"Alright, well your fall shifted the pin in your shoulder. Good news is that if moved back to where it was before you decided to stand on a broken chair. We fixed the ripped stitches. Your going to hurt fairly good in the morning, and when the meds the nurse gave you wear off. I strongly suggest that you refrain from any strenuous activity for at least a week. Here are your discharge papers, please return them to the nurse when she comes by. If you have questions feel free to call." Typical ER doctor, straight and to the point, which was good.

"Okay, not to sound rude, but, I hope to never see you again doctor." The graying man smiled and let out a chuckle.

"Same to you Mr. Ross." The man turned and left the room, Rachel walked back in, she had gone to get coffee, and I waved the papers at her with my left hand.

"Want me to help you with those Mike?" She took the pen from the table and the papers from my hand.

"Please, small lines and non-dominate hand writing don't mix well."

"I can understand that. What I don't understand is why you refuse to follow doctors orders."

"I'm stubborn, why do you think Harvey keeps me around?" As if, he kept me around because I was good, really good.

"That's not an answer and you know it. You were told to stay off work for at lease 10 days, you came back 3 days later. That's not stubborn, that's idiotic. And by the way Harvey knows your not supposed to be back for at least a week now, he told me that if he sees you before next Tuesday he's firing you." Dammit.

"Great, just fill those out so I can go home please."

Next Day

Oh sweet Jesus, mother lovin' jackass-ed, obscenities ran through my head when I woke up the next morning. My shoulder felt like it was being assaulted with a hot poker and my head was pounding. On top of that, I had absolutely nothing to do. I settled for watching T.V., popping 2 of the pain pills into my mouth and washing them down with bottle of water. And then the door rang. It had to.

I answered the door to a face I really wasn't in the mood to see right then. Trevor.

"What do you want Trevor?" I leaned my left shoulder against the door frame to support me, I was dead tired.

"Dude, what happened to you? You look like crap." Trevor simply walked into my apartment, setting his bag down next to the coffee table.

" I said, what do you want?" I really didn't need this right now. And I mean REALLY didn't need this.

"Honestly, I don't care. I just want it to go back to the way it was before, And not before when we got stoned together, the before before. When we'd sit around watching football, or talk about how Mr. Jacobs thought I was an idiot."

"You are an idiot. But fine, T.V.'s on ESPN" Trevor picked up the little orange bottle on the table, setting it back down he glanced around the room.

"You're on pain meds, and your accualy taking them? And, dude, where's your bike?" Trevor may not be the smartest person but he knows me. And I mean knows me. Like, that besides pot I've never touched drugs, apart from aspirin. Or that when I broke my arm and told my grandmother it was from a skateboard accident, it was really from running from the creepy guy at the park.

"Yeah, point?"

"Dude, you must have gotten messed up bad. I've never seen you on anything stronger than aspirin."

"That's because before I had a real job I could high and not worry about it. Now I can't, I have to take the stuff they tell me too."

"What happened, and no bull shit. I want the details." Trevor leaned back on the couch and stretched his legs out on the coffee table.

" Okay, but you have to guess what I hurt. There's three. And no objections, this is how we agreed to tell this kind of thing all that time ago." Trevor wasn't good at this game. It was something we had developed as kids, one of us gets hurt, the other one has to guess where before getting the story.

"Dude, really. Your pulling the game on me. Fine. The bruise on your jaw. That's one. I think I saw you limping a little so...imma guess knee. 'Cause you're knee was already screwed up. And the arm is the tough one. I don't see a cast, but its most likely what the meds are for. Your not turning your body, at least not your shoulders. Probably not a dislocation, you would've just popped it back in and gone on with your day. Broken collar bone?"

"Damn. You got a lot better at the game since the last time." He really had, last time had been a fight, 2 ribs, a sprained wrist and a very mild concussion. He'd only gotten the wrist.

"Story now."

"I got hit by a car." His head snapped up, his feet falling to the floor and he sat forward. Because Trevor knew.

Knew why I never drove.

Knew why I had never gotten my lisence.

Knew that I would most likely never drive in my life.

Knew about the nightmares.

Knew what had happened.

Because Trevor knew why my parents were dead.

This chapter was so far written at 2am on a Wednesday, in about 20 minutes, the time line so far is this:

And on a tuesday at midnight, in about 30 minutes.

Car hits Mike on Thursday

Mike goes to hospital 1st time on Thursday

Mike goes back to work on Monday

Hospital again later that same monday

Trevor on tuesday

A/N-Couldn't not leave it there. It was a perfect cliffie! sorry im 36 hrs sleep deprived. YAY! for caffine and ncis fanfiction.


	6. Chapter 6

Warning: mentions of suicidal thoughts if you look close enough!

Omg omg omg the premier was amazingggggggggggggg(fangirl squeal) also the premier for burn notice was crazzzzzzzzzzzzy good,

Too little words for both shows

Once again, I own neither, if I did Mike would steal trevors identity(which he might!) and Fi would already be free

I cant wait till next Thursday

And really quick I wrote his before I watched the premier, so my guesses are pretty good.

I sat bolt upright on the couch, staring at Mike. He had been hit by a god damn car, and hadn't thought to tell me. For a genius, he's a bit of a dumb ass. I remember when his parents died. His mother had been a wonderful woman, the best mom a kid could ask for. His dad, well that's another story all together. They had died in a car crash when we were 12, his dad had been drunk and ran a stop light, they never saw what hit them.

Mike's family is something he tries to keep to himself, after his parents died he started living with his grandmother, and the rest is history.

"Oh my god." I said, stunned, he just stood there next to the couch, staring at me with this blank look in his eyes.

"I was on my way to work, was going too fast and didn't see the driver until it was too late. Turns out the guy's a bailiff though. Saw him coming out of court that same day. Didn't know I was this banged up until he put his hand on my shoulder and I almost passed out." Mike rambled on, almost laughing at the passing out part.

"Dude, are you okay? And I mean okay okay, not …you know what I mean." We had always been able to have this kind of conversation. Half said sentences held a thousand words, and one word answers meant more than a novel.

"No man. I'm freaking out. I mean what coincidence. And it being the 15th when it happened. Its just creepy, and I can't get it out of my head." He was pacing, looking about ready to fall over too.

"Sit down Mike, you look like you're going to pass out. And not in the good way, the drunken stupor way, but the exhaustion over rides pain way."

"Dude, I can't even think straight with the damn pills in me. But it just….it hurts when I move, hurts when I sleep. Does that make sense? That even though your asleep you can feel pain?" He sat down on the couch and winced slightly as he leaned back. "And I've got a headache, just to top it all off."

"Migraine?" Not a lot of people know this about Mike, but he used to get really bad migraines when he was about 17 or 18. So bad he couldn't even turn the light on in the bathroom. Stupidest thing was though, he wouldn't take anything stronger than Advil, and we didn't start smoking pot together until we were out of high school.

"No, but that might just be because of the pills. You know I got one the other day? Pretty bad, about a 7 on the mind numbing headache scale." He was rambling again.

"Just calm down, alright Mike." I sighed and bend forward, my elbows resting on my knees. " Your not thinking about IT again are you?"

He just looked at me straight in the eyes "I wasn't, but now I am. God damnit. It wasn't even anywhere in my brain, and now its full focus." IT was a bad thing, I felt bad about bringing it up.

"I'll stay here tonight , make sure the dark place doesn't come calling at your doorstep." The unthinkable deed.

"Thanks Trevor, I mean it. Just like old times, huh?" He sighed and got up. "Well I gotta take a shower, watch whatever." He was upset, I mean who wouldn't be though.

"okay, you have any pizza?" And just like nothing had been said we fell into the old routine, he nodded to my question, walking off into the bathroom.

^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%

"Uhh, really hate asking for help but…can I have a hand?" Mike stepped out of the bathroom wearing basketball shorts, his right arm clenched tight to his body. But that wasn't the shock. Deep purple-black bruises covered his shoulder and spread down his chest, he turned to grab the sling from where it was on the counter, his entire shoulder blade was a mottled purple mess. Stitches ran from about an inch and a half from the base of his neck to the edge of his shoulder.

"Damn."

"yeah, not fun. Could you help me get this stupid thing back on?"

"Sure. How bad did you break it that they had to cut you open to fix it?" And he had tried to go to work. Idiot.

"Completely through in two places." He said it so calmly that it was weird.

"Holy crap to that. Lets get you fixed up though." He grabbed a shirt and handed me the sling.

"Yeah. And I'm pretty sure they try to make those things impossible to get back on on your own. Give me a minute , can you try to figure the Velcro out on that?" He slowly put the shirt on pulling it gently over the stiches.

"Shouldn't you put something over those? " He shook his head. And I pulled on the Velcro, figuring the second strap out.

"Needs to dry first. You figure that out?" I held it out to him and he smiled a weak smile and took it from me, placing his arm in it and trying to figure out a way to Velcro the strap that held his arm to his body.

"You know for a genius, you're an idiot. Turn around." He half smiled and turned his back to me, and I closed the strap around his back. He sat down on the couch and sighed.

"Trevor, thanks. You know, for… everything."

"No problem buddy, no problem."


	7. Chapter 7

Ekk that took me forever again, sorry life gets in the way, if anyone was confused by the last chapter please just say so

Warning: more dark stuff in this one too( Child Abuse(Physical(not sexual) and Sucide( attempted and ploted)

Don't won, don't sue and honestly I'm broke soo….yeah

Oh, I just realized that since I'm backwards(Extremely left sided) I have him wearing the messenger bag in a different direction than normal even though he wears it that way in the show. Ex: odd to me= left to right, odd to Mike is right to left, I have him wearing it left to right, the same as in the show

By Friday Mike was getting restless, sitting around doing nothing and watching T.V., he'd finished with the files in the first 2 days, by Thursday morning. Saturday was almost equivalent to high school math class. And honestly even the really odd girl with the strange hair got an A in that class, and she slept about 70% of the time. Mike had slept or flirted or goofed about, well okay, when he was there, because really, if you already know how to do the stuff why do you need to learn it again? Well, let's just say he wasn't actually listening for about 98% of the time. Long enough to hear the homework assignment and when he was supposed to serve detention for throwing paper airplanes back and forth with Jimmy. Sunday he was seriously contemplating how hard it would be to sneak into Pearson-Hardman and get more files. He went against his, somewhat younger judgment, and decided to just call Donna or Rachel and beg for something to do. They said that he should go over the ones he had. He did. Three times.

Thankfully, at exactly 10:27 and 42 seconds on Monday morning Harvey called.

"Harvey?" Mike had been reading a book, one he hadn't actually read before. Which surprised him considering it was on his shelf and he was sure he'd read all those.

"Yeah, Mike I need you to come in too the office, I got a new case."

"Be there in 20 minutes." He was already putting the book up and grabbing a suit from his closet, awkwardly holding the phone between his left shoulder and his ear.

"Meet me outside." Harvey hung up as Mike got dressed, he'd ditched the extra strap on the sling, it was just too damn difficult to put on.

Harvey was waiting next to the steps outside the building when Mike got out of the cab. He felt great being back to work, days of nothing bored him senseless.

"Hi Harvey ." The older man nodded pointing to his ear and his Bluetooth set.

"Yes, I have the preceding papers. I'll see you tomorrow" Harvey made the universal sign for blabbermouth with his hand "Yes. Alright. Have a nice day." Harvey punched a button on the set and pulled it from his ear. "It's like she thinks I can't do my own damn job" Mike made a confused smile. "Client's wife. Different case." He gestured for Mike to follow him as he began walking down the street.

"Meakins Corp., ever heard of them?"

"Traded over 2 billion in stocks so far this year. Projected to close at 5 billion for the whole year." Harvey looked at him and Mike just gave him a look like 'seriously, you should be used to this by now'.

"Of course you have. Good. Well turns out, of that 2 billion, a third was bad stock and another fifth was insider trading. The CEO doesn't want this going public, and were meeting at his house."

"Okay, anything else I need to know?"

"His 23 year old daughter is set to run the company when he retires, she'll be sitting in. I want you to talk to her, see if she could have been trading the insider shares."

"Just one quick question." Harvey nodded "You couldn't deal with Greg for this, could you?"

"Not a question and it was Kyle this time. He's almost worse than the other one, a little more professional, but should really be kept away from caffeine."

"Not going to deny that."

The client was an imposing man, the way he held himself making his seem even larger, the daughter on the other hand was small, pulling the sleeves of her jacket down to cover her hands. Mike knows the feeling; she's uncomfortable in her surroundings, in this situation. He's been there before, a few times. Harvey gives him a signal and he asks the daughter, Maria, to speak with him in private.

"What do you need to know?" She sits down in a large chair, curling her feet up next to her.

"Are you responsible for the bad stock?" Mike awkwardly shrugged out of his bag, regretting not leaving it in the car.

"No, this company is what I stand to inherit, I wouldn't bring it down." She shifted her position and pointed to the sling. "What happened to you?"

"I crashed my bike." He somewhat lied, trying to keep himself separate from the client's family members, and then he saw what the sleeves were covering, the barely visible strips of white gauze covering her wrists. "When?"

"When what?" She noticed that he had seen what she was hiding and quickly covered it.

"You know what." Mike let out a huff of air. "Look, I've been there. That place that seems like nothing can get better, like it needs to end. But trust me, it gets better." The girl looked up at him through her bangs.

"Yeah, right. You're only saying that to make me feel guilty, to talk me into getting help."

" No, I'm not. Let me tell you something, less than a year ago I was told that I'd have to come up with 25 grand to pay for my grandmothers living expenses in a care home. To do that I took a job from a guy I thought was my best friend, a job selling weed. Look where I am now, I'm living the dream I've had since I was 12, a dream I thought I'd never fulfill because of a series of boneheaded mistakes. So tell me. When?"

"Well isn't that great? You're the god damn poster boy for anti-depressants and suicide warnings. You think you're so great because you beat it. You say you were where I was once, but when were you where I am? Huh? You think that just because you could make your life awesome everyone else can?" Her voice was getting louder and more high pitched as she went on.

"No I'm not. I'm screwed up, get that straight. It's been 12 years, half my life, since my parents died and I still have nightmares about them. About how when I was 10 my dad came at me with an empty Jack bottle because I lost a god-damn baseball game, didn't matter that there were other guys on the team, just that I struck out one of the three times I was at bat. And you know what's worse? That I can't ever freaking forget it, not a single detail, because I have a picture perfect memory. So no, I'm not a poster child, I'm far from it, and I've been were you're at almost my whole shitty life, but I like where I'm at now, so I deal with it."

"Two nights ago. And I didn't sell the insider stock options, but I know who did."

**A/N: Like it? Hate it? I hope I get the next one out faster**

**Ps: thank you all of you who have reviewed or even just read this fic. **

**A/N2.0: so yes I gave Mike issues to deal with, but I think it worked. (Anyone who's broken their collar bone want to help me with the details, I'm very open to the help, I'll get on my knee's and beg even _)**


End file.
